I’ve been speaking to lots of students in the last few weeks about the importance of getting your mind ready for learning.One of the ways you can do this is to use conscious visualization.So what picture do you see when you think about speaking your new language?Are you stuttering? Talking to an English speaker? Struggling to understand?If you are – let’s change the visual. For the picture to be really effective you need to ‘feel’ something when you see it. It should make you smile, internally as well as externally…..

As many of you know, my picture is sitting in my brother in law’s kitchen in Russia, having dinner with family and the next door neighbours (BTW no one speaks English). I understand and join in the conversation as well as the vodka toasts (that story is for another blog!!)Every time I ‘see’ this picture in my mind, I get excited about it and think – "wow this is really cool". My body and mind relax - I am ready to absorb new information and learn.

So what do you need to create the right picture for you?IT MUST BE

Personal – Can you see yourself in the picture speaking? Who are you speaking to?

Present tense – Can you see it as happening now? It’s no point seeing something in a thought bubble as a future event (e.g. when I finish my course)

Positive – Obviously!!

It is vital to be Persistent and do your visualization exercises every time (for 2 minutes) before you start your online learning or your tutorial.

Remember the more you engage the language of your subconscious mind – Passion – the more effective your learning will be. So some good pictures are:

Around a family dinner table – we all enjoy food and wine.

Shopping – see yourself doing some high spirited and effective bargaining.

Restaurant – talk about the menu/ region specialties with one of the waiting staff.

I’d love to hear what your ‘picture’ is – share it with your tutor or the VLLC staff the next time you are having your tutorial. Happy language learning….. Jo